Transfer mechanism.



D. F. CRAWFORD.' TRANSFER MEGHANISM. APPLIOATIoN FILED D120A 13, 19o.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

' WITNESSES INVENTOR Patented Aug. 13, 1912.

D. F.' CRAWFORD. TRANSFER MEGHANISM. APPLICATION FILED DEO. 13, 1909.

D. P. CRAWFORD. TRANSFER MBGHANISM. APPLICATION FILED 'DEO.13, 1909.

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UNTER@ havre cnawronn,

'tiitta' FS PATENT OFFICE.

OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

TRANSFER MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 13, 1912.

Application led December 13, 1908. Serial No. 532,916.

tive to the stok'er mechanism employed onl the locomotive. The inventionhas for its primary objects; the provision of an arrangement havingimproved means for imparting the preliminary feed to the fuel in thetransfer chute; and the provision of an irnproved a-nd simplifiedarrangement of con necting links for securing the actuation of thepiston and forwarding means in Athe chute. One embodiment of `theinvention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings,

wherein Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through the mechanism asapplied to a locomotive and tender,

Figure 2 is a artial view taken above the fioor of the ten er,

Figure 3 is a half section taken on the II*III of Figure 1, and

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section through line a modified form oftransfer mechanism applied to a locomotive and tender.

'Referring to pal parts may be enumerated as follows; 1 is the {ire-boxof the locomotive which may be of any approved type; 2 is a receiving orfeed chamber which opens into the feed box, and from which the coal isforced by means of the piston y; 4 is asteam cylinder located at theside of the tire-box and furnishing the 'power for operating the feedpiston 3; 5 1s a transverse shaft carrying the crank arm 6 connected tothe piston of the steam cylinder, and the crank arms 7 from which thefeed piston 3 is reciprocated; 8 is the tender of the tocomotiveprovided in its bottom with the vertical outlet passage 9; 10 is a chutehaving its top open to re ceive the coal from the passage 9, andextending forwardly to a position above the feed chamber 2 of thelocomotive, the bottom'of such chute being open above the feed chamber 2permit a discharge thereto; 11

is a feed piston working lin the rear end of the chute'lQ, and adaptedto give the coal Transfer y the drawings, the princi- J discharged intothe chute from the passage 9, its preliminar' forward movement; an 12are a seriesof feed flaps or plates for advancing the fuel through thechute 10.

The chute 10 is preferably made of sheet metal `and is. provided at itsupper-.inner edges with channels 13 (Fig. 3). .Mounted in these channelsare the operating rods 14 upon which the feed flaps 12 are pivotallysupported. As indicated in Fi ure 3 each flap consists of a plurality-ofindependently movable strips or fingers, which dlvided arrangementincreases the etliciency of the flaps, as a lump of coal lodged beneatha.

flap can render only a portion of the strips ineffective, instead of theentire flap being f held up, as is the case where 'the fiaps are made inone piece. Rods 15 are provided upon the bars 1t against which the stops16 on the feed flaps l2 are adapted to engage, so that the flaps whilefree to swing forwardly are prevented from swinging rearwardly. ln orderto reciprocate the bars 14, the crank arms 17 are provided upon the rockshaft 5. and the upper ends ofthese crank arms 17 are connected to atransverse block 1S carried by the bars 14 by means of- The piston 3 ispro-" the' connecting rods 19. vided with a transverse block 20, and thereciprocation of the piston is secured by means of a pair of connectingarms 21, one on either side of the piston, which connecting arms arepivoted at their forward ends to the upper ends of the crank arms 7 andat their rear ends to the ends of the block 20. The fccd piston 11 isreciprocated by means of the connecting rods 22 and 23, and the lever 24arranged as indicated in Figure 1, the front ends of the connecting rods22 being secured to the ends of the block 20.

The feature of making the flaps in the forwarding chute in sections andof making the stroke of the flaps greater than that of the feed pistonsis shown 'arid described in my co-pending application Serial No.532,915, tiled December 13, therein. f

, The chute 10 rests at its front end upon its supporting block 25 onthe locomotive, and is freely movable in all directions upon suchsupport. At its rear portion thev chute is trunnioned upon a pair ofbearings 26 mounted upon the tender, and the plate 27 carrying thebearings is pivoted at 28, the arrangement thus providing for therelative universal movement between the tender and 1909, and claimedhand if desired, such opening being protected by a door 29.

The operation of the mechanism will be readily understood from theforegoing description. The coal in the tender feeds by gravity into thechute 10 through the passage 9, and the piston 11 serves to give thecoal its preliminary movement in the chute, and the flaps 12 carried bythe bars 14 `serve to convey lthe coal step-bystep through the chuteuntilit falls into the chamber 2 and is forced therefrom into thefire-box by the piston 3. The crank arms 17 are made of greater lengththan the crankarms 7 which operate the pistons 3 and 11 in order thatthe feed of the flaps 12 in the chute may be relatively greater thanthat of the pistons, thus avoiding the danger of clogging in the chuteand rendering lthe feed more free. The use of the lever 24 in the lineof connection between the pistons 3 and 11 causes the piston 11 totravel in a direction reverse of Athat of the piston 3 and flaps 12,which arrangement gives a very positive and efiicient feed, the rearmostflap 12 approaching very.

close to the front end of the piston 11 when these parts are in theirinnermost positions.

The general arrangement of t-he parts of the modification of Figure 4 isquite similar to that shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, with the exception thatan additional feed piston is provided beneath the tender, and the meansfor operating the piston in the chute is slightly different. The samereference numerals are applied to the parts of the construction shown inFigure 4 as are used in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 for corresponding parts, and itwill"be understood that the same description applies tobothnnstructions. The additional piston 30 is mounted in a casting 31 atthe bottom of the tender and works4 transversely of t-he dischargepassage 32 leading from the tender. This piston 30 serves to break upthe coal and discharges it into the hopper 33, which hopper in turndischarges into the chute 10 in front of the piston 11. The piston 30 isoperated from the block 20 on the piston 3, by means of the connectingrod 34 pivoted to such block and to the sides of the piston 30. Thepiston 11 is operated from the piston 30 by means 4of the connectingrods 35 and 36 and the levers 37 pivoted intermediate their ends, themembers bei-ng pivotally connected as indicated in the drawing. Thisarrangement gives the piston l1 a movement the reverse to that of themovement of the flaps 12 and to that of the piston30.

Having thus described my invention and plying coal to a locomotivefire-box, a tender provided with a fuel discharge passage leading fromits lower portion, a chute leading y forwardly from a point adjacent thedischarge passage, a piston mounted in the chute for giving the coal itspreliminary forward movement inthe chute, reciprocatory forwarding meansfor moving the coal through the chute step by step, and loperatingmechanism adapted to move the piston and forwarding means 1n oppositedirec- 30 tions at the same time.

2. In combination in apparatusfor supplying coal to a locomotivefire-box, a tender provided with a fuel discharge passage leading fromits lower portion, a chute leading forwardly from, a point adjacent'thediS- charge passage, a piston mounted in the chute for giving the coalits preliminary forward movement in the chute, reciprocatory forwardingmeans for moving the coal through the chute step by step, means forreciprocating the forwarding means, and means for reciprocating thepiston, the parts being so arranged that the stroke of the forwardingmeans is longer'than that of the .951

piston. v

3. In combination inapparatus for supplying coal to a locomotivefire-box, a tender provided with a fuel discharge passa-ge leading fromits lower portion, a chute leading forwardly from a point adjacent thedischarge passage, a piston mounted in the chute forgiving the coal itspreliminary forward movement in the chute, reciprocatory forwardingmeans for moving the coal/21 105 through the chute step by step, meansfor reciprocating the forwarding means, and means for reciprocating thepiston, the parts being so arranged that the piston and forwarding'means .work in opposition simul- 11()- taneously and with the stroke ofthe forwarding meanslonger than that of thev piston.

4. In combination in apparatus for supplying coal to a Alocomotivefire-box, a ten- 115. c

er provided with a fuel discharge passage leading from its lowerportion, a chute leading forwardly from a. point adjacent the dischargepassage, forwarding means comprising a series of flaps arranged alon the120 chute 'and mounted for reciprocation t erein, a piston mounted forlongitudinal movement in the chute beneath the discharge passage andmecha ism for moving the piston and flap 5. In comldination in apparatusfor supplying coal to' a locomotive fire-box, a piston for dischargingthe coal into the firebox, a rock shaft, a crank arm thereon, for

operating the piston, a tender provided 130 toward and from each other.

with a `discharge passage, a chute with its rear end in 4position toreceive the discharge from said passage and. its front end in positionto discharge to the said piston, a feed piston 'Working longitudinallyof the rear end ofthe chute for giving the coal its preliminary forwardmovement, reciprocatory forwarding means arranged along the chute forgiving the coal a step by step movement therethrough, a second crank onthe rock shaft, of greater length than the first crank arm for operatingthe forwarding means, and a connection from the first mentioned pistonto the feed piston whereby they are operated in unison with a strokeless than t-hat of the forwarding means.

G. In combination in apparatus for supplying coal to a locomotivefire-box, a piston for discharging the coal into the tirebox, a rockshaft, a crank arm thereon for operating the piston,- a tender providedwith a discharge passage, a chute with its rear end in position toreceive the discharge from said passage and its front end in position todischarge to the said piston, a feed piston working longitudinally ofthe rear end of the chute for giving the coal its preliminary forwardmovement, reciprocatory forwarding means arranged along the chute forgiving the coal a step by step movement therethrough' a second crank onthe rock shaft of greater length thanv the first crank arm for operatingthe forwarding means, and connecting rods and a lever mountedtherebetween whereby the feed piston is operated from the firstmentioned piston with substantially the same length stroke but in theopppo'site direction.

7. In combination in apparatus for supplying coal: to a locomotivetire-box, a piston for discharging the coal into the firebox, a rockshaft, a crank arm thereon for operating the piston, a tender providedwith a discharge passage, a chute with its rear end in position toreceive the discharge from said passage and its front end in position todischarge to the said piston, a feed piston working longitudinally ofthe rear end of the chute for giving the coal its preliminary forwardmovemcnt, reeiprocatory forwarding means arranged along the chute forgiving the coal a step by step movement therethrough, means foroperating such last means from the rock shaft, a connecting rodextending rearwardly from the first V5 mentioned piston, a lever pivotedintermediate its ends and havino one end pivoted to the connecting rod,an( a second connecting rod pivoted to the feed piston and to'the otherend of the said lever. l

8. In combination` in transfer mechanism, a transfer chute, a piston inthe chute for giving material supplied in front thereof a preliminaryforward feed, reciprocatory forwarding means in front of the piston formoving the material step-by-step through the chute, and comprising aseries of flaps pivotcd to swing freely forward but held againstrearwardoscillation, and operating4 mechanism adapted to move the pistonand forwarding means in opposite directions at the saine time.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presenceofthe two subscribed witnesses. y

DAVID F. CRAWFORD.

Witnesses:

HARVEY L. LECHNER, DonmNe BELLlNGER.

